she stood up, rolled her sleeves up and led the people who were disillusioned and did not know where to turn. we watched her positive, powerful leadership keep our state moving in the right direction. if those two were not enough, as governor, she led the charge to remove the confederate battle flag from the capital of south --. [applause] senator tim scott: i will tell you, when the decision was made to take on that fight, not that many people were clapping in south carolina. she had the vision to know that sometimes you do the right thing , even when it is not popular.

he hands the trigger -- let's give her time to clap back there by herself. god bless you, ma'am. [applause] scott: there is no doubt that the trigger for the removal of the confederate flag was an incident that no governor, no person should have to live through. we are all familiar with the murders at the mother emmanuel ame church. governor haley, who showed tremendous leadership as our governor, did something that i thought was far more important during those funerals. because i was there with her through every funeral. and she was there. but she was not just there as a governor. she was there as a mother. she was there as someone who held hands with a state and

people that were broken. if you ever want to know what leadership looks like, don't look at her record as a job creator, don't even pay too much attention to the response to natural disasters. look specifically at the crisis of mother emanuel, and her response as a human being, as a mother, as a governor. but most importantly, as a bridge to a better future. south carolina remains south carolina strong because of the leadership of our governor. it is no question that when president-elect trump saw the resume and watched on national and international tv, the leadership of governor

haley, he chose her to be our next ambassador to the united nations. please help me welcome our governor, my governor nikki haley. [applause] governor nikki haley: thank you very much. this is just a surreal night on a lot of different levels. i have to tell you, when i heard about this award, i thought really? i mean, it was just one of those that i could not even comprehend or imagine. and then to go and you have to understand as the wife of a combat veteran, to even hear john mccain talk about you is

like overwhelming. because we cannot ever thank you enough for your service and i am forever in your debt. one of the best dinners michael and i had was with newt and his wife. the man is a great dinner companion because he can talk and talk and talk but it is really cool things he talks about. i want to thank him. that was really neat to hear him talk about that. i have to tell you as we were planning for this speech, i didn't know of tim scott. i just thought it was somebody named tim that was going to introduce me. now i look back and that made it that much more special because i will tell you when you are governor and elected to

lead you make a lot of decisions. some you go back and you say i wonder if that was right and one of the best decisions i ever made was appointing tim scott as u.s. senator. [applause] governor haley: thank so much, tim, for that great introduction. i appreciate it. thank you to joann kemp and to jack and joann's incredible children, to the entire kemp family, and to the kemp foundation. i am deeply, deeply honored that you would choose to give me this leadership award. it means more to me than i think i could ever truly express. i regret i never met jack kemp. i know i would have liked him. in anticipation of tonight i was reading some of the things i came across. i came across this quote. there is a kind of victory in good work no matter how humble.

my mother as tim said made me start doing the books for our family business when i was just 13. so believe me. meaning. t those were beyond what secretary kemp said and when i look at what he stood for in his life and what he did, i am in awe. in pro football, in congress, in the executive branch, as a national leader of conservative movement, his accomplishments go far beyond any words. it's not just his accomplishments that stand out. what is perhaps the most significant about jack kemp is his compassion. the compassion he always showed to those who have been left behind in our country. and the courage he showed in going against the grain of republican thinking when our party was wrong. jack kemp was often referred to

as a bleeding heart conservative. i love that. i love it because it is important to be conservative. since our way of thinking is the right way for our country. but it's also important to have heart for people who might not always share in our experiences or perspectives. some in our party still miss that. jack kemp never did. and as we begin this new era of united republican governance, we can't afford to miss it now. we have an incredible opportunity in front of us to remind america that our approach will deliver freedom and opportunity to all citizens regardless of race, gender, or where they were born and raised. that is what drew me to the republican party. and what drew my parents to america. my parents left a wealthy

lifestyle in india with just $8 in their pocket to come to america to start over. why would they do that? because even in 1969 they understood that no amount of money, no lifestyle can compare to the opportunities we have in america. only here can you be anything you want to be if you're just willing to work hard. only here do the circumstances of your birth not define your future. only here is anything truly possible. that is jack kemp's republican party. that is my republican party. and that at its core is the american ideal. i'm not an academic. i'm not a philosopher. i'm a wife. i'm a mother. and a governor of the state who took a chance on me more than six years ago. i have spent every single day

since then working to prove to the people of south carolina that they made the right decision. to me, that means making sure every south carolinian has the same opportunities i had. the opportunities that allowed an indian american girl from a tiny rural town of van der lindenberg, south carolina to ne day grow up to be governor. when i took over jobs were scarce. economic anxiety was real and the american dream felt out of reach for too many. i remember not quite knowing where to start but then i came across a quote from one of my predecessors who was a contemporary of secretary emp's. while governors can create --

can't create jobs we can do a lot to ensure when a business wants to start to grow it can. we passed tort reform. we wiped our regulatory boards clean and replaced the chairman of our largest and most bureaucratic board with the president of a construction company. and look at us now. we built planes with boeing. we built cars with b.m.w., mercedes-benz, and now volvo. we have five international tire companies. the first american flat screen tv's look no further than rural wince boro -- winsboro, south carolina. for those who said bicycles would never again be made in the united states we brought back a new jersey bike manufacturer from china and they're now operating at rural manning, south carolina. most of that didn't exist six years ago. so more than 82,000 new jobs

and 21 million dollars in investment has been announced in south carolina during that time. we've moved more than 35,000 people off of welfare and put hem to work. unemployment has been cut in half. more south carolinians are working today than ever in the history of our state. i've often asked how we've done it. as if there is some secret formula that spurred our transformation into the fastest growing economy on the east coast. my answer is that like most things in government it's not as complicated as some people think. it's about common sense. and a willingness to get creative and challenge norms and a belief that all things are possible if you free people to pursue their own dreams. jack kemp understood that better than almost anyone.

lifting people up is more than just about finances. it's also about education. that's an area in which our state has lagged behind for many years. we're still behind. but not for very long. more than four years ago i started a conversation about education in south carolina. i met with principals and teachers. superintendents, university deans, business leaders, and clarity. i listened. i learned. and we changed things. we've ended social promotion. we are aggressively recruiting rural teachers. we are changing the districts and incentivizing them to stay. we are investing in technology and getting every south carolina child up to speed in the world as it is today. not as it was three decades ago. and we did it all without

raising taxes. [applause] we have made changes to the way we teach our kids in south carolina. these changes are happening because of two simple things. a willingness to acknowledge the problem and willingness to move outside of our comfort zone to find a solution. it was out of the ordinary for a republican governor to go to teachers and superintendents to talk about education reform. that is usually democrat territory. but those conversations helped me understand where they were coming from. that helped them begin to trust me and built relationships that allowed us to push these changes through our legislature. veryone wants to feel heard. in this nation everyone deserves to be. for too long the leadership of

both political parties have written off large groups of our ellow americans. outreach and honest communication can have enormous policy effects. i've seen it with the state. i've also seen it with a change that goes much deeper. i speak of last year's mother emmanuel shootings in charleston and the removal of he confederate flag. when i first got word of the shooting i knew this would be unbearable. nine shooting deaths in a church at bible study. a state senator and leading figure in the local black we never hot to death mansiond something -- we never imagined this. it immediately became clear this was the act of a racist motivated by pure hate.

the first thing we needed to do was lift up those families and celebrate the lives of the victims. i decided to attend each funeral. i met the families. i heard their stories. and through it all, i had the privilege to get to know nine amazing souls. after each funeral i would head home and sit down with my two kids. i would show them the faces on the programs. i would introduce them to the person i met that day. i introduced them toeth l lance who despite losing her daughter to cancer two years prior was a woman of love and joy who constantly sang her favorite song. "one day at a time, sweet jesus. that's all i ask of you. give me the strength to do do." day what i have to i introduced them to our youngest victim, a 26-year-old budding entrepreneur anxious to open his own barber shop who on

that night stood in front of his 87-year-old aunt susie and said, you don't have to do this. we mean no harm to you. i introduced them to cynthia hern whose life motto was to be kinder than necessary. that is now my life motto. every opportunity have, i mentioned the nine we lost and the three survivors. the emmanuel 12. those 12 who took in someone that night who didn't look like them, didn't act like them, didn't sound like them. they didn't call the police. they didn't throw him out. instead, they pulled up a chair and they prayed with him for an our. i mention them because i don't want to be just the families that know their love and compassion and greatness of these amazing people.